Out of Character
by Higuchimon
Summary: Takeru isn't acting like himself: he can't keep Daisuke out of his thoughts.


_**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the canon characters who appear in this fanfic and am not writing this for any form of profit.  
**Title:** Out of Character  
**Timeline:** Digimon Adventure 02, nine years later (2011)  
**Romance:** Takeru x Daisuke  
**Notes:** This ignores the episode 50 epiloge, and was written for Jonath Lee/Broken Part of Me for Christmas 2001._

_I don't miss him._ The word echoed over and over in his mind as he went about his life. _He was just an annoyance. Just in the way all the time. Always getting up in my face._ Takaishi Takeru did _not_ want to keep thinking about Motomiya Daisuke, but every time he tried to think about something else, or someone else, that quirky, perky, tanned face and wild grin kept throwing itself into his mind.

It was far more than enough to drive him out of his mind. He didn't _want_ to keep thinking about Daisuke...and some of the dreams...they made him glad he'd gotten his own apartment after high school, he didn't think he wanted his mom finding out about the state of his sheets most mornings.

It was almost to the point he was afraid to sleep because he knew he was going to dream about Daisuke. _He's just a friend. He's not even my **best** friend._ Takeru paced back and forth.

"Takeru, is something wrong?" Patamon looked at his partner curiously. As far as the porcine Digimon could remember, the young man had _never_ been this antsy in the past. Not even the 'forces of evil' had gotten under his skin this way. _It's Daisuke. He's been like this ever since Daisuke left._

It wasn't as if the redhead was on the far side of the moon or anything. He was just over in Tamachi, living in an apartment with Ken, and getting some work experience at a restaurant there. _He really wants to open his own business_. Takeru's mind drifted off at the thought of special meals prepared by Daisuke, of quiet nights and candlelight flickering...

It was time he faced it. He couldn't keep it from himself forever, much less from everyone else.

"I'm in love with Motomiya Daisuke."

Hearing the words out loud made him shiver inside, but with joy. He was suddenly suffused with the desire to _see_ Daisuke, to talk to him, to be with him, to kiss him...

_I wonder if he's busy right now_. He stared at the phone for a moment as a cold hand seemed to clamp around his heart. _What if he's got someone else? What if he's not interested in me?_ For a moment, Takeru couldn't find his breath. The thought of those glorious eyes, almost repugnant moments ago, turned to someone else, made him want to scream.

"Takeru?" He looked over to see Patamon sitting there and staring at him as if he had lost his mind. "Takeru, are you all right? You..." It was fairly obvious that the little Digimon was worried about his partner. "You're talking to yourself."

Takeru looked back at him with a very mischievous grin, quite different from anything Patamon was used to seeing on him. "I'm just _fine_, Patamon. I just figured out that I'm in love with Daisuke."

Patamon stared, blinking slowly. "You are?"

"Yes."

The Digimon fidgeted a little. "Does he know that?"

"Not yet."

Patamon fidgeted again. "Are you going to tell him?"

"Yes."

This was getting strange. "When?"

"I don't know yet." Takeru whirled to look at the phone again and started over to it. "How's now, you think?" When his partner didn't say anything, Takeru snatched up the phone and started to dial.

Over in Tamachi, Motomiya Daisuke had just dropped himself on the couch and was considering never eating again as long as he lived. At least not noodles. He'd seen, cooked, served, and taste-tested enough noodles right now to be having nightmares about them. Some nights he did, imagining noodles having sprouted arms and legs and running after him demanding that he see just how deliciously soft and pliable they were. Whenever he woke up from one of those nightmares, he always wanted to scream, but didn't. _No way am I telling anyone that I have nightmares about noodles. They'd laugh me out of Japan_!!

He almost jumped out of his skin when the phone rang. P_robably for Ken_. He knew his friend was going to be home late that night; he and Wormmon were off doing...something or other together. He didn't inquire too closely into their nightlife and expected the same non-asking from them. N_ot that I **have** a nightlife._ But that was what you got when you moved away from virtually everyone and only got to see them when you had the train money to go back to Odaiba. Which wasn't that often. Though he could have ridden Lighdramon back whenever he wanted, if he were honest with himself. Work tended to crop up whenever the thought crossed his mind, more often than not.

"Moshi moshi, Ichijouji and Motomiya residence, Ken's not here right now, can I take a message?" Daisuke asked in the timeless manner he'd rehearsed over many months of no one calling for him.

"Hey, Daisuke!!" It was Takeru's voice. He sounded...cheery. Chipper. More than was usual for the Keeper of Hope. A word floated through Daisuke's mind, and it sent a chill down his spine. _Hyper_. The thought of a hyper Takeru was enough to send him screaming into the night. Or late afternoon as the case may be.

"Takeru? What's up?" He settled himself back down on the couch, tucking his legs underneath him, and hoping for a nice long chat with his old friend. It was rather nice to hear from his former semi-rival again, even if he _did_ sound like he'd eaten an entire container of instant coffee.

"Hey, I was wondering, are you busy any time soon? Got time for a date? Are you dating someone?" The words seemed to spill over each other as if they were in a rush to get out, and Daisuke stared at the phone in shock. He was feeling particularly tired this evening, but he was fairly certain he was right about this: Takeru sounded hyper. He sounded...he sounded..._He sounds like **me**. Heaven help us_.

"Um, Takeru, are you all right? You don't sound like yourself."

"Oh, I'm fine." Takeru giggled a little and there was a faint swishing sound that could've been the cord flipping back and forth. "Well, _are_ you busy tonight? _Are_ you dating anyone?"

Daisuke stared at the phone as if he expected it to suddenly turn into a snake and bite him. "_Takeru...I...well...no, I'm not dating anyone_." For the first time in twenty years of life, Motomiya Daisuke was flustered and confused when talking to someone. He felt as if he'd just been dumped onto thin ice and told to skate across it without breaking through.

Takeru almost seemed to be dancing on the other end. "Oh, goody! You see, I'm in love with you and I'd like to go on a date if you're not busy? Tonight good for you? Or maybe tomorrow since tomorrow's Friday and you don't have to work the next day but you will have to work tomorrow so you should probably be getting what rest you can tonight."

"Slow down, slow down!" Daisuke interrupted when he could. "Takeru, w_hat_ is wrong with you? You're not acting like yourself!"

"Of course I am!" Takeru hummed a little tune for a few moments. "So, when should we go out?"

"Well, I really have to get to bed early tonight, so I guess--" He broke off for a moment. "_What??_"

A deep and throaty chuckle echoed across the phone lines. "I love you and I want to go out with you."

"Are you drunk?" Daisuke stared suspiciously at the phone in his hands. As much as the thought of dating Takeru appealed to him, and had for a long time, he didn't want to get anything started while the blond wasn't himself. And from the tone of voice, the general words...none of it seemed like the quiet Child of Hope that he knew!

"Of course I'm not drunk!" Takeru laughed. "I just feel really _really_ good. I think it has something to do with being in love with you. So maybe I am kinda drunk. Drunk on love. Drunk on you. You're intoxicating, Daisuke. I could go on forever."

"Please don't." Daisuke stared at the phone. _Am **I** drunk and imagining this? I don't **think** I am. I didn't take anything that I usually don't. So why does this feel so surreal?_

Takeru wasn't listening, however. Daisuke could hear him going on and on and on and on...and it was starting to get just a _little_ on the usually cheerful young man's nerves. "Takeru, stop it. If you want to talk to me, come on over and we'll talk face to face." _And maybe this'll turn out to be some kind of a dream. Maybe I'm sick..._

"No problem!" Takeru's unnatural cheeriness was starting to both worry and terrify Daisuke. He was usually nice and friendly, but there was just something _majorly_ off about this. "I'll be there in _no_ time."

Before Daisuke could say anything else, there was the buzz of an unconnected line, and he found himself staring at it in disbelief. This had to be a dream. A really _weird_ dream without a single shred of reality to it...

The trip between Tamachi and Odaiba wasn't really _that_ long; on Lighdramon Daisuke could make it in under twenty minutes, depending on traffic. It took a little longer if you had to take the normal ways. However, being a Chosen Child pretty much guaranteed you _weren't_ normal, so ten minutes after the phone had been hung up, Daisuke looked out the window to see Takeru, with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolate under his arm, waving from the back of Pegasumon. _Flowers...chocolate...I've always known he was a romantic but still..._ This was a bit strange. No, scratch that, it had passed the strange mark a _very_ long time ago.

"Hi!!" Takeru waved cheerily at him from behind the window as Daisuke went to open it up. "You look _great_." Blue eyes twinkled, and Daisuke resisted the urge to look for signs of drug use in them. "Good enough to eat!"

"Um...hi." If _I was like this about Hikari no wonder she never wanted to date me. This could get **really** annoying **really** fast._

As Daisuke slid the window open, Takeru and his partner came in, Pegasusmon now back to Patamon. "V-mon's in the kitchen handling dinner," Daisuke told the Digimon, who promptly went to go see what his friend was doing. The redhead returned his wary gaze to Takeru, who was holding out the flowers and chocolate. "Um...thanks." _I think._

Takeru grinned at him almost maniacally. "So now that we're together...what about that date?" His eyes sparkled a deep blue as he stepped a bit closer to Daisuke, who had the sudden urge to go climb up to the ceiling and stay there a while.

"Um, well...yeah, I am free tomorrow night." Daisuke had never really thought that much about his crush on Takeru, at least not the same way he had on his crush on Hikari. She'd been the first girl he'd ever really 'crushed' on , and that had went so badly he was almost ashamed to think of it. _Plus it's kinda different when it's a guy. I don't think hanging all over him telling him he's 'my guy' would go over that well. Then again, the way he's acting now, he'd probably...why is he looking at me like that?_

The Child of Hope grinned a bit wickedly as he stepped closer to Daisuke. "Daisuke, you're...absolutely gorgeous." He purred. "I could spend forever telling you just how gorgeous you really are. I could do a _lot_ of things forever with you."

Daisuke took a hesitant step back. "Takeru, have you been drinking anything or doing anything weird? You're _really_ not acting like yourself."

"I know, Daisuke." Takeru's voice took on a sultry purr. "I've been feeling like this ever since I let myself realize I love you. I'll probably be over it tomorrow: acting like this, not loving you. I'm going to stay in love with you for a very long time. Probably forever, as far as I know. I certainly have no plans to fall _out_ of love with you. You're too gorgeous to just leave."

Before Daisuke could move a single inch to stop it, and he wasn't all that certain in retrospect if he would have ever wanted to stop it, Takeru had pulled him into his arms by a wrist, and was nuzzling by his ear. "You're completely delicious, my Dai." Takeru purred. "But if you tell me you don't want me I _will_ leave you. I won't force you. I may be acting weird, but I'm not stupid and I'm not a monster. So...yes or no, do you want me to go?"

Daisuke actually took a couple of minutes to respond. Not because he had to think about it, but because it was impossible to think with Takeru's tongue exploring around his ears, shoulders, and neck, making little nips and growls of pleasure. "D...don't s..stop...d..don't..." How was a person expected to think with Takeru doing those kinds of things? Plus his hands were wandering lower and lower.

"I love you, Daisuke." Takeru purred softly into his ears. "What do you say?"

"I say--" Whatever Daisuke might've said was broken off by the clearing of a throat, and the two of them looked up to see Ichijouji Ken standing in the doorway, Wormmon in his arms.

"I say that whatever you two are up to, should _probably_ be taken to the bedroom." The elegant Child of Kindness said with a quirked eyebrow. "If you were going to have company over, Daisuke, you really should've let me know."

Daisuke blushed a deep red. "Sorry about that, Ken. I wasn't exactly expecting this."

"I was." Takeru pulled Daisuke closer and nibbled on his ear some more. "I'm in love with him and I want to do all kinds of things with him. I know this is kind of fast, but sometimes things happen." The Child of Hope shrugged casually. "I'm feeling a little weird right now, so you might want to go before I say something that _really_ embarrasses Daisuke here, like how he squirms when I do this." His tongue darted out to caress Daisuke's ear, and sure enough, the other squirmed like a worm on hot ashes.

Ken blinked slowly, then turned back towards the front door. "You two have fun doing whatever it is your doing. I think Wormmon and I are going out for a few hours."

"Good." Takeru answered for the both of them. "I don't know how long I'm going to be feeling like this so I want to take advantage of it while I can."

The former Kaiser looked back over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling for a moment. "Take advantage of _it_ or take advantage of Daisuke?"

"Whichever."

As the door closed behind Ken, Takeru pulled Daisuke into a closer kiss. "You never finished what you were saying before, Daisuke. Want me to go or not?"

Daisuke slowly shook his head, letting his emotions fill his eyes as he did so. _Maybe I never had a crush on him. Maybe I loved him all along and that's why I wasn't the way I was with Hikari. Maybe I'll never know. Maybe I'll just enjoy being with him for a few decades and figure it out then_. He leaned up to lick Takeru's chest and traced his fingers across it. "Come on, Takeru. We've got some things to talk about."

"Such as?" There was a definite leer in his gaze as the two of them fell towards the floor in a tangle of arms and legs.

"I'll tell you later. What do you like for breakfast?"

**The End**


End file.
